8 More Gonzo DIY Projects: Backyard Genius Runners-Up

To create an incredibly cool car-crusher, oversize rocket or solar-pedal-powered contraption that the world had no idea it needed takes brilliance, determination and a healthy dose of crazy. That's what it takes to be a backyard genius. Here are the Popular Mechanics Backyard Genius Award runners-up, seven great projects that include everything from an indestructible target to a machine that prepares you for homemade space travel.

The Texas Hold Em-1000 Virtual Poker Table

Not many people can boast that their home poker table is equipped with nine projected capacitive touch screens and a quad-core PC, but Australian IT whiz Andrew Milner can. The 38-year-old, who's been slinging cards for the past four years, rigged up four digital video cameras to stream all the action for players who are knocked out early, and incorporated Microsoft's .NET crypto library to generate random hands. Milner used Visual Studio 2008 to write the software, SolidWorks to design the actual table and Photoshop to create the graphics. While he says players easily adjust to the touch-screen format, he admits he occasionally misses having a stack of chips to fiddle with. "There's just no substitute for the feel of real cards and chips in your hand, so there's a balance," he tells PM. "You lose that traditional feel, but you gain a lot as well. There are never any misdeals or errors, and on average we get to play 50 to 100 percent more hands, depending on the structure of the game." Milner says he's happy to build custom tables for anyone who has about $20,000 Australian ($17,300 U.S.) to part with, and he's currently in negotiations with several gaming operators to bring his creation into casinos. The one shortcoming: The table only knows how to play Texas Hold 'Em.

A centrifuge used to train for space travel

Time: About three solid months of work dragged out over a 12- to 16-month period

"The tunnel vision started at 2 minutes," says Brian Walker, 53, of his most trying run in his homemade centrifuge. "At 2 minutes and 48 seconds I blacked out from 9.5 g's." Walker, an independent toy designer and longtime inventor, began building a rocket in the late '90s to take himself to the edge of space, and also constructed the centrifugal M.A.D (Multi-Axis Disorientation) machine so he would be able to withstand the journey. An ultra-lightweight engine and propeller that tops out at 55 mph powers his centrifuge. The all-steel machine weighs about 600 pounds. Walker's original design had an open-air seat'no capsule'and only an 18-inch inner ring, which he expanded to 8 feet for increased stability. He says he added a switch that allowed him to control the engine from within the pod, so that when he passed out, his finger would slip off and bring the centrifuge to a halt. Walker invested millions of dollars in his compound and took several trips to Russia, where he purchased a cosmonaut suit and flew in a MIG 25 at 85,000 feet to prep for blastoff. He eventually had to give up his space-bound dreams, however, due to several personal factors. "It was such a huge project to take on independently," he says. "I could never go back at it in this rogue fashion." Don't worry though; the prolific inventor is working on several new projects, including a human catapult that he says can launch gutsy base jumpers 150 vertical feet and 300 horizontal feet.

A portable lighting system

When early sunsets started ending his son's football practice prematurely, Kevin Dickmyer created a portable lighting system using a 20-foot extension ladder, a generator and four 500-watt quartz lights. "It's an elementary school league, and they just got a practice field, but there are no utilities and no electric," he says. "They were only getting 45 minutes of practice, and I thought there had to be an inexpensive and simple way to light up the field." Dickmyer, 42, who manages a farm-machinery and power-equipment rental shop, says he found an old tow-dolly in his store that was perfect to hold the generator. Some minor welds of scrap metal, a few L brackets and an extension cord was all it took to get the system operating. The 5-gallon generator can run for 11 hours, which is enough for nearly an entire season, and one or two players can pull the dolly around the field. Dickmyer tells PM he recently added a flagpole that extends 6 feet above the lights to fly the team flag, undoubtedly making the Manheim Vikings the most intimidating elementary school football squad in all of Pennsylvania.

A spinning target that allows two shooters to compete against each other

Time: About 2 hours

Cost: $2 for an LED flashlight; everything else was from recycled material

Paper targets get shredded after only a few well-placed shots, but Brent Gardipee's spinning target has withstood the force of more than 10,000 rounds and is still perfectly functional. The concept behind the spinning target, which was made from an old Stanley drill press, was to allow two shooters to compete in a head-to-head competition of accuracy and speed. The spinner is set in the middle to begin with, and one person tries to shoot the targets clockwise while the other hopes to rotate them counterclockwise. The spinner travels about 2.5 inches from top to bottom; about six spot-on shots with a .22-caliber pistol can win the game. "We're shooting at it from 60 to 70 feet away. When you hit one of the stainless-steel targets, it spins about two times," Gardipee, 56, tells PM. "Every time the spinner reaches the top or bottom, it triggers a small LED flashlight that shines through the slits on the front. When that light goes on, everyone gets real excited." The Wisconsin-based machinist notes that his biggest concern was that molten lead would destroy the LED light after only a few shots, so he inserted a small piece of stainless steel as a reflector, allowing him to keep the flashlight out of harm's way. "I added a nice paint job to the target," he laments. "But that got blasted off immediately."

A tractor designed for those with severe physical limitations

Twin brothers Tom Karl and Tim Karl never let their muscular dystrophy stop them from building amazing machines. They started tinkering with remote-control toys as kids, and later in life built their own wheelchairs. The gem of their creativity, though, is a drive-by-wire tractor that gave Tom—whose physical ability was limited to slight movement of his head, neck and right hand—total control over the machine.

A joystick linked to two servomotors allowed Tom to steer the tractor, while a second joystick, which he would maneuver with his chin, controlled the front-end loader. The brothers, who enlisted the help of family and friends to do the wiring, created a self-leveling cab by installing a hydraulic power pack designed for yachts, and they added two onboard cameras so Tom could navigate his surroundings. "Tom was so weak that if his head fell over he couldn't pick it up," says Tim, 47. "But he could just put his chin on the joystick for the bucket and operate it flawlessly." While the drive-by-wire design was a great success, Tom was determined to build a fully remote-controlled tractor, equipped with a front-end loader and backhoe. Unfortunately, Tom didn't live long enough to see this machine in action. He died in April at the age of 46, just weeks before the machine's first test run. Tim is continuing the project and says that he's on track to complete the project in the coming months.

Hennepin Crawler: A Four-Person Rail-Bike

The Hennepin Crawler is an odd amalgam of antique, salvaged and homemade parts that was created by the California-based building collective Krank-Boom-Clank. The wheels, which are made from industrial drainage pipes, consist of a staggering 900 parts each, including 90 aviation wire spokes and a car hub. Each rider can shift through 15 gears, while the center seat is responsible for steering and yanking on the stage coach-style brakes. "We don't actually call them brakes," says Clifford Hill, 40, a graphic designer by day. "We call them slows, because, well, they don't brake that well." Fortunately, the roughly 750-pound machine only hits about 12 mph on roads and 6 mph when it's dropped on a railroad track. The team pulled some front-end steering elements from a `70s VW bug, the trunk off an antique Cadillac, and even threw on some parts from a razor scooter. "We're more about style and silliness over function," Hill says. "We want to inflict a bewildering beauty on an unsuspecting public."